Omelette is the most underrated dish in the world. Imagine you are running late to office, you will always have those few minutes to make one omelette and stuff into yourself. If you run out of ideas for your next meals, omelette always saves you. If you run out of dishes when a guest turns in suddenly, you can always depend upon an omelette. It’s one dish which can never go wrong as well, however it turns out – people have it happily.
There are omelettes with several variations – the most common ones you would have heard are the Spanish omelette, French Omelette (in high end restaurants) and our own masala omelette. Let’s talk more about the masala omelette. I have always (and am sure you too) wondered how the masala omelette made on the streets (or some restaurants) are more tasty and fluffy, while the ones we make at home are hard.
You must be wondering why so much of fuss for an egg omelette. Even I was of the same opinion, until I had one in Nair Mess at Chennai (the best non-veg restaurant for having good meals and heavenly non-veg). I have searched many articles, blogs and websites on omelette to understand how to make the best one, tried several of them, but none of it actually matched the one I had in Nair Mess or for that matter in few other roadside “Thallu Vandi’s too.
So one day I got into a conversation with one road side vendor who makes various types of omelettes (Chicken, beef etc). I asked him “what’s the secret for the best omelette?”. He just said one thing – keep the pan hot as fire. This is the most important tip I received and since then my omelettes have always been fluffy and tasty irrespective of what you add. So here goes some tried and tested tips to make the best masala omelette right at your home.
Tips for best Masala Omelette
Don’t beat the egg too much, stop it the moment it dissolves.
Milk – Just one teaspoon for each egg, not more than that. But this can be avoided.
Do not add water to the eggs (Yes, I have also done that earlier to increase the quantity ;)
If you are making masala omelette, don’t add too much of tomatoes as the water from the tomatoes can affect the texture of the omelette. Keep it minimum and also avoid the juicy flesh inside the tomato.
The pan has to be very very hot when you pour the egg mixture, you can reduce the heat towards the end.
Butter – Using butter (instead of regular cooking oil) makes a big difference in the texture and flavour of the omelette. If you don’t want to use butter, atleast use olive or coconut oil. Add generous amounts to ensure there is some butter around the perimeter of the omelette.
Cover the omelette when it’s getting cooked, this will help to cook the upper side faster and also adds to the fluffiness.
Most chefs or recipes ask you to take the omelette out when it turns pale white or light yellow, I would always prefer it to be light brown in some places.
Masala Omelette Recipe
(You still want a recipe for making omelette, huh! ;)
Ingredients
Egg (obviously, and preferably at room temperature)
Salt to taste
Masala Items - Green Chilli (I prefer green chilli, you may try black pepper or red chilli also for some variations), but mixing all types of chilies is of no use, Coriander leaves – very little, finely chopped, Onion finely chopped, tomatoes finely chopped.
Method
Break the eggs and beat them with some salt.
You may wish to sauté the masala items (in butter) before you add it to the eggs or add it as it is like done in most restaurants.
Heat the pan till it’s very hot, add butter and wait till it bubbles out.
Pour the egg mixture.
If you have too much of stuff on the pan, then ensure you drag all sides towards inside as it cooks, to ensure that it cooks evenly and quickly.
Cover the pan to ensure the upper side is cooked faster (you can reduce the heat little at this point)
Once done, flip the omelette and cook the other side.
Variations to the omelette:
You can make some variations to the Omelettes by adding any additional ingredients like Chicken or Mushroom or shredded Beef or fried Sausages. If you are thinking of adding any other vegetables, trust me it’s not worth it.
Ensure the top is atleast half cooked so that the meat pieces don’t sink inside the eggs as you cook. This is important because if they sink, it does not taste great.
The other option is to make an omelette sandwich kind of thing by placing the meat on one side and flipping the other side over. You can do this after the eggs are completely cooked also.
Cheese Omelette – When you add Cheese to the omelette, the best is to place the cheese (slices or even grated ones) on the top side and roll the omelette to form an oval enclosure. This ensure that the cheese gets melted inside the omelette and spreads evenly. The other option is to add grated cheese to the eggs, but be careful it does not stick onto the pan.
Hope you try these and let me know your feedback!! I will be adding photos and videos shortly!!
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